NYU SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES CENTER FOR PUBLISHING & APPLIED LIBERAL ARTS CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMS (PALA/CE)

Continuing Education Programs in Publishing, the Humanities, Arts, Producing, Design, Writing, and Translation.

Cayla Delardi

ALL Fall 2020 Book Club Discussion: Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson

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Just Mercy book cover and headshot of Bryan Stevenson
 
Join the NYU School of Professional Studies Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) Book Club on Thursday, October 15th at 12pm EST as we read along with NYU Reads and discuss Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. This event is free and open to the public. Participants will receive a Zoom link upon registration.
 
 
NYU Reads is a university-wide initiative to bring the New York University community together around a single common reading, chosen by a University committee composed of faculty, student, and administrator representatives. The book describes the compelling story of NYU School of Law Professor and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative Bryan Stevenson and his efforts to fight for the freedom of wrongfully imprisoned people.
 
About the book:
“Bryan Stevenson is America’s young Nelson Mandela, a brilliant lawyer fighting with courage and conviction to guarantee justice for all. Just Mercy should be read by people of conscience in every civilized country in the world to discover what happens when revenge and retribution replace justice and mercy. It is as gripping to read as any legal thriller, and what hangs in the balance is nothing less than the soul of a great nation.”
 
Want to learn more about the Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL)? Visit our website: www.sps.nyu.edu/lifelonglearning

CALA Fall Faculty Spotlight: Kalika Kharkar Sharma (After Effects I and After Effects II)

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Kalika Sharma
Kalika Kharkar Sharma brings years of industry experience and high-level teaching to her courses at NYU-SPS/CALA. An NYU-Alumna herself, she also studied Film and Animation at Rhode Island School of Design. Her clients include Brooks Brothers, Carnegie Hall, United Way of NYC, CNBC, Nickelodeon, Sesame Street, iHeartRadio and Steve Madden, among others. In addition, she’s been teaching motion design, character animation and traditional and experimental filmmaking since 2005. Within NYU, Kalika also teaches at Tisch School of the Arts and SPS-Department of Applied Undergraduate studies; at Pratt Institute she developed a Cinematic Typography course for their Film-Video department, has been a guest lecturer at CUNY, and teaches industry professionals motion graphics best practices. Past students now hold lead creative positions at Samsung, Kayak-OpenTable, NASA, Microsoft and Comedy Central, where 3 won Emmy Awards for Motion Design.  
 
This Fall, Kalika is teaching After Effects I and After Effects II at CALA. To learn more about what you’ll walk away with after taking these exciting courses, check out these short videos: After Effects I and After Effects II. Be sure to visit these galleries of student works, too: After Effects I Student Works and After Effects II Student Works.
 
After Effects I starts on September 22. Click here to register now.
 
After Effects II starts on November 3.  Click here to register now.

NYU SPS Associate Dean Billie Gastic Receives UPCEA Fellowship Award

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We are pleased to announce that Dr. Billie Gastic, NYU SPS Associate Dean of Liberal Arts, Languages, and Post-Traditional Undergraduate Studies, has won a fellowship to participate in the upcoming UPCEA Bethaida ”Bea” Gonzalez Diversity in Leadership Scholars Program!

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Dean Billie Gastic
Dean Billie Gastic

As Syracus University News explains, “The University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) has established the Bethaida “Bea” González Diversity in Leadership Scholars program with the goal of equipping diverse professionals at any stage of their career with the skills and knowledge needed to move into leadership positions on campus. […] González, vice president for community engagement and former dean of University College, retired this month after 36 years of service at Syracuse University. She served UPCEA in many capacities, including as president-elect in 2013-14 and president in 2014-15. During her tenure as UPCEA president, González facilitated discussions about the needs of adult students and collaborated with UPCEA officers and members to provide services and access to higher education students.”

As part of the fellowship, Dean Gastic will join an accomplished cohort of higher education professionals to engage in a series of online professional development programs that will address the challenges of the profession and the importance of representative and diverse leadership—a cornerstone of UPCEA’s commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Gastic for this achievement and expressing our gratitude for her commitment to fostering a diverse community within SPS and beyond.

Deutsches Haus at NYU Offering Remote German Courses This Summer!

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If you are looking for a German-language course this summer, Deutsches Haus at NYU will be running a remote (via Zoom), teacher-led Summer Term from June 15 until August 22. This Summer Term will be a ten-week session (one 2.5-hour class per week), with a few intensive options (“Beginner Intensive” and “Advanced Beginner Intensive” with two 2.5-hour classes per week) and also some conversation classes. Check out their Summer Term schedule here and take any of these classes from anywhere!

Free 20-minute trial classes at the A1.1 and B1.1 levels will be held on Thursday, June 4, at 6pm. Should you be interested in reserving a spot for either trial class, please email Tanja Schmitz by 12pm on June 4. For more information about our language classes, please check out their FAQ page.

Want to learn another language? CALA’s Summer offerings include: French, Italian, Japanese, Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Greek, Persian (Farsi), Spanish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Swedish, and Russian. Our online summer sessions begin on June 1st and July 13th.

Visit our website to view more details and enroll: https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/topics.html#PS0293 

Want to Learn a Language? Italian? Arabic? Swedish? There’s No Time Like the Present!

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With the world feeling smaller these days, the impulse to reach out, communicate, and continue to learn is a natural reaction. Luckily, there is no shortage of online resources available to those seeking to acquire or sharpen language skills. Two recent New York Times articles provide a thorough list of apps, platforms, and services designed to boost fluency, as well as the perfect Netflix selections to supplement your study. 

We at CALA encourage the use of these valuable resources to begin or bolster knowledge of another language. The language courses we are offering in the Summer term provide something further – the invaluable experience of taking a class with a language expert and motivated classmates. Engage in conversations to improve your communication skills and add that “je ne sais quoi” to your fluency. Hone your pronunciation, sharpen your listening skills, and discuss cultural issues in our dynamic community of learning. Our courses will complement the resources highlighted in The Times, taking your skills to the next level while connecting you with a community of students and scholars. 

Summer languages offered include: French, Italian, Japanese, Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Greek, Persian (Farsi), Spanish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Swedish, and Russian. Our online summer sessions begin on June 1st and July 13th.

Visit our website to view more details and enroll: https://www.sps.nyu.edu/professional-pathways/topics.html#PS0293 

CALA Recommends: Games

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Many of us who find ourselves firmly in the double-digit days of quarantine are searching for ways to spend our extra free time indoors that don’t involve reorganizing everything in our homes or obsessively tracking the latest dismal COVID-19 news. We’ll be posting a bi-weekly roundup of media and entertainment sources recommended by our staff to provide a welcome distraction from the world.

Here at CALA, we’ve been dusting off old board games and reaching for controllers a lot over the past few weeks. More than just children’s entertainment, games are a perfect way to connect with family and friends of all ages, relieve stress, keep your mind sharp, and let your creativity flow. Check out a list of our favorites below and be sure to recommend your own in the comments!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons



Platform: Nintendo Switch
Genre: Social Simulation

In the latest installment of the Animal Crossing franchise, your story begins as you move to a deserted island with a pair of animal neighbors and one simple goal: to build a pleasant life for yourself and your new friends. The beauty of the game–and its therapeutic appeal in these particularly chaotic and uncertain times–is in its flexibility; whether you prefer to spend your days fishing on the beach, building waterfalls, planting flowers, or designing your home, you can work at your own pace and exercise your creative muscles to make your island oasis look exactly how you want. There is also an online multiplayer feature that allows you to visit your friends’ islands and host them at yours, making the game a great backdrop for virtual hangouts. – Cayla Delardi

Final Fantasy VII: Remake



Platform: PS4 [Exclusive to PS4] Genre: Action RPG [Role playing game]

Volume 1 (of 3) of the groundbreaking RPG (originally released in 1997) created by Square Enix. Not only was this game updated visually, Square Enix has completely revamped the classic turn based battle system, making it free form, fast paced, and layered with engaging complexities. Additionally, hours of new story content is interwoven into the original story, building upon the classic experience. An absolute masterpiece and must have even for those new to the franchise. – Jervon Mercier

Mad Dragon: An Anger Control Card Game

Platform: Tabletop
Genre: Card Game

“Players race to get rid of their cards while learning anger control skills.” Good for kids of all ages who are staying at home and those with whom they are staying at home. Bonus game: Exquisite Corpse over text message or variations like Kwame Alexander’s community poem starting from What I’m learning about grief (is that it is still learning about me), etc. – Annelise Finegan Wasmoen

Solo 

Platform: Tabletop
Description: Card game (standard 52 card deck), miniumum 4 players

Solo Whist is a trick-taking card game whose direct ancestor is the 17th-century Spanish game Ombre, based on the English Whist. Its major distinctive feature is that one player often plays against the other three. However, players form temporary alliances with two players playing against the other two if “Prop and Cop” is the current bid. It requires four players using a standard 52 card deck with no jokers. Aces are high and the deal, bidding and play are clockwise.

This game has been played by generations of my mother’s family and passed down – we called it Solo (Whist was a completely different game we also played). In the kitchen on Holly Road on Dublin’s northside, I played with my grandmother, Alice Fortune, my mother Ina, my aunts Tedie and Charlie, and my sisters Cathy and Laura. In Ireland we had weekly card game nights. In New York, I’ve played cards during blackouts, hurricanes, but sadly not pandemics.

My favorite bid: Misère 

Here are the rules, bids, and instructions: http://www.52pickup.net/card-games/solo-whist/

– Anne Maguire

Drawful 2

Platform: Jackbox Games (PC, Mac, Apple TV, and more)
Genre: Party game

Drawful 2 is played in groups, from 3 to 8. (We’ve been playing it using the screenshare feature in Zoom with family on the west coast.) Players are presented with odd titles (Nose Hair Collection, Haunted Taxi Cab, Man Bun, etc.), which they illustrate, privately, on their iPhones. After every player has finished drawing, each drawing is shown on a shared screen, one at a time, without the title. Players then submit their own titles for each drawing: the objective is to trick the other players into thinking your title is the correct one. After all titles are submitted, the drawing is shown again, this time with all the titles. Players get points for guessing the correct title, as well as for each person that picked their fake title. The titles are weird, the drawings are bad, and it’s a funny way to stay connected with friends and family. – Andrew Dicus

Quiddler

Platform: Tabletop
Genre: Word game

To try to have some time off the screen nowadays we’ve been playing Quiddler. It’s a word game with cards that is really easy to play yet challenging for everyone. Our family age range is 8 to 60 and it is perfect for everyone. Get out your dictionary, though, people, at least in my family, have a tendency to invent words… – Jenny McPhee

Exquisite Corpse

Exquisite Corpse, the collaborative poetry or drawing game, can be played over text message. For another variation, see Kwame Alexander’s community poem, starting from What I’m learning about grief (is that it is still learning about me), etc. – Annelise Finegan Wasmoen

CALA Recommends: Binge-worthy Podcasts

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Many of us who find ourselves firmly in the double-digit days of quarantine are searching for ways to spend our extra free time indoors that don’t involve reorganizing everything in our homes or obsessively tracking the latest dismal COVID-19 news. We’ll be posting a bi-weekly roundup of media and entertainment sources recommended by our CALA staff to provide a welcome distraction from the world.

Even without our daily commutes, podcasts remain a great source of entertainment, news, and escapism during isolation—especially for those of us who are trying to reduce our screen time. We’ve compiled a list of our favorites below. We’d love to hear yours in the comments!

Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet

Sibling duo Christine and Alex Schiefer host this comedy podcast featuring dramatic readings of one-star reviews of businesses and attractions all across the country. Each week features a different US city and category—from Walmarts in Sioux Falls, SD to Psychics in Albuquerque, NM. My favorite episode, though, is #35: Souvenir Shops in Atlantic City, NJ. Bonus: Christine also hosts a paranormal/true-crime podcast called And That’s Why We Drink! – Cayla Delardi

Levar Burton Reads

When I grew up I wanted to be Levar Burton. To travel anywhere and find an apposite book there. This podcast is Reading Rainbow for grownups with selections from contemporary fiction. The bonus episodes, especially the conversation with Lesley Nneka Arimah, are likewise excellent. Bonus listen: “The Doors” sing the Reading Rainbow theme song. – Annelise Finegan Wasmoen

Lexicon Valley

Lexicon Valley with Columbia University’s John McWhorter is great for word nerds, as are Lingthusiasm and The Endless Knot. – Jenny McPhee

Reply All

Hosts PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman discuss the weirdest and most buzzworthy stories in internet culture and explore how technology shapes our lives. If you’re not sure where to start, check out fan favorite, “The Case of the Missing Hit.” It’s an incredible journey with an extremely satisfying ending. – Cayla Delardi

Scene on Radio

A podcast from the Center of Documentary Studies at Duke University, is revolutionary in its way of analyzing history and social justice in the United States and beyond. Series 2, entitled “Seeing White” changed my entire view of humanity, showing how our history and definition as Americans has been distorted to devastating effect. The present season, season four, entitled “The Land That Never Has Been” is about democracy in America from the founding fathers to right now. It couldn’t be more relevant to where we are as a people and a country. The podcast’s storytelling is as compelling as The Wire, its reporting as deep-digging in trying to unearth the truth as Studs Turkle, worthy of James Baldwin in its message and heart. – Jenny McPhee

Stuff You Missed in History Class

As the name implies, this HowStuffWorks podcast hosted by Holly Frey and Tracy Wilson explores the greatest lesser-told stories throughout history, like. Other podcasts on the HSW network include Stuff You Should Know, Ridiculous History, and Stuff Mom Never Told You. – Cayla Delardi

Carrier

It seems kind of quaint now with the coronavirus pandemic in our midst, but this is a solid scifi podcast starring the incredible Cynthia Erivo (of Outsider), who seems capable of doing anything. This podcast will certainly be a welcome, tame distraction from what’s going on out there in the real world. – Jenny McPhee

#NYUTogether—A Gathering for Strength and Hope on 4/20 at 5:30 pm

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This Monday, April 20, from 5:30-6:00 p.m. EST, NYU is holding an all-University event called #NYUTogether: A Gathering for Strength and Hope. Speakers—including students, mindfulness experts, and chaplains—will offer tools and inspiration to help us all navigate these uncertain times, and express gratitude for the many NYU essential staff members fighting to keep us safe and well.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nyutogether-a-gathering-for-strength-and-hope-tickets-102627248864

CALA Recommends: Quarantine TV

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Many of us who find ourselves firmly in the double-digit days of quarantine are searching for ways to spend our extra free time indoors that don’t involve reorganizing everything in our homes or obsessively tracking the latest dismal COVID-19 news. We’ll be posting a bi-weekly roundup of media and entertainment sources recommended by our CALA staff to provide a welcome distraction from the world.

Whether you’re looking for a thought-provoking docuseries or the reprieve of a lighthearted sitcom, we’ve got all of your television quaran-streaming needs covered this week. Check out the list below and recommend your own recent favorites in the comments!

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

Ed Norton And Dax Shepard Want To Play Joe Exotic In Tiger King ...

Watch it on: Netflix

Netflix’s newest true-crime docuseries charts the downfall of Joe Exotic, an eccentric zookeeper and big cat breeder convicted of the murder-for-hire of animal rights activist Carole Baskin—a dubious character in her own right. Aptly described by critics as a cross between Making a Murderer and Eastbound and Down, this story has it all: exotic animals, murder, a Shaq cameo, drug kingpins, polygamist cults, country music, a presidential campaign, and one serious bleach blonde mullet. – Cayla Delardi

The Good Wife

The Good Wife Binge-Watch Guide: Season 2

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

I’d love to offer something meaningful but I’m so not there at the moment. The Good Wife has many seasons and is a binge-worthy, mid-brow, sometimes trashy political legal drama set in Chicago. Starring, among others, Archie Panjabi (the most ridiculous, badly-dressed seductress of anything that moves that I feel sorry for her), Martha Plimpton (what’s not to love), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife herself), Audra McDonald, Parker Posey, Mike Colter (deliciously well-dressed charming and terrifying drug lord), Alan Cumming (that charmer), and a whole host of Hollywood and Broadway stars who play various judges, lawyers, criminals, and politicians. Gets my late-night vote for adapting to the coronavirus lock-down. – Anne Maguire

Hilda

Hilda Series Review | What To Watch Next On Netflix

Watch it on: Netflix

Released in 2018, Hilda is a series based on graphic novels about a blue-haired girl with a knack for befriending spirits and animals. The show follows Hilda and her mother from their home in the woods to the city of Trolberg, where Hilda goes on adventures with her human friends, an invisible elf, and a deerfox named Twig. Great for kids and complex and visually interesting enough to engage parents. I recommend the books, too. – Eve Mayer

Gentefied

Review: Netflix's 'Gentefied' Is a Sharp Bilingual Dramedy | Time

Watch it on: Netflix

I don’t love every episode or character in this series, but on the whole this is a great story of a family forced by their rapidly gentrifying neighborhood to make some hard choices: either change (and risk selling out their community) or don’t (and risk losing their family restaurant). I especially love the episode about Ana Morales’s (Karrie Martin) mother, Beatriz, starring Laura Patalano. – Andrew Dicus

Money Heist (Casa de Papel)

Netflix La Casa De Papel Money Heist Season 4 Release Date, Cast ...

Watch it on: Netflix

The fourth season of this totally addictive Spanish thriller series is about to begin on Netflix on April 4. This show is so much fun, a whole new take on the Robin Hood, Bonnie and Clyde, critique-of-capitalism genre that has all the flair and style of an Almodovar film, suspense to honor and rival Hitchcock, and a Patricia Highsmith level of exquisite storytelling. – Jenny McPhee

The Office

Best Characters on The Office | The Office Characters List

Watch it on: Netflix, comedycentral.com

Comedy about people working together in an office. The manager, Michael Scott is so wrong on many levels. The Office never gets old and I still LOL watching most episodes. – Ken French

The Inn at Little Washington

The Inn at Little Washington | LinkedIn

Watch it on: PBS

An inspirational documentary, with a historical perspective. – Suzanne Kaplan-Fonseca

The Expanse

New The Expanse teaser trailer from Amazon shows new worlds and ...

Watch it on: Amazon Prime

The Expanse is a science fiction drama set hundreds of years in our future, where space exploration has caused humanity to separate into three factions: “Earthers”, “Martians”, and “Belters”. The discovery of a potentially life changing alien lifeform, within our solar system, increases tensions between these three factions as they all fight to get their hands on it. – Jervon Mercier

Arrested Development (and other “comfort viewing” favorites)

Arrested Development Season 5 Trailer Announces May Premiere Date

Watch them on: Netflix

I’ve been strictly “comfort viewing” random episodes of shows that I know will make me laugh and that I’ve seen so many times there is no suspense factor.  Arrested Development, The Office, Spaced, and Supernatural. That said, I have plans to start the 3rd season of Ozark this weekend. – Kristine Kerr